The only Bollywood actress to make it to BBC’s 100 most influential women 2016

Priyanka Chopra move over

For the last four years BBC has released a list of the world’s most influential women. Former list veterans include Asha Bhosle and Sania Mirza. The list includes women across all professions, nationalities and backgrounds. So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when former porn star Sunny Leone made it to the list.

Sunny is featured alongside four other Indians; Gouri Chindarkar (a computer engineering student), Mallika Srinivasan AKA ‘Tractor Queen of India’ (CEO of the third largest tractor company in the world), Mumbai-based actor/writer Neha Singh ( who started the ‘Why Loiter’ movement in the city in order to defy harassment) and Saalumarada Thimmakka (Environmentalist). Of the list, Sunny is the only woman of Indian origin from the entertainment space.

No doubt Leone has made it to the list thanks to her entrepreneurial skills and resilience, not to mention general feminist outlook. The quote featured under Leone’s name on the list read, ‘It’s your right as a woman to follow your dreams and it’s your responsibility to make them come true’. We’ve always admired Sunny. Here’s why:

1/4

No shame in her game

Sunny owns the fact that she was a former porn star. In an interview with the sanctimonious gas bag Bhupendra Chaubey, she said, “Everything I’ve done in my life has lead me to this seat. It’s a chain reaction that happens, everything is a stepping stone to something bigger. I don’t have any horror stories.”

She holds her own

Whether it’s from haters on Twitter who try to slut-shame her or self-professed intellectuals like Chaubey, Sunny isn’t letting anyone put her down. She’s handling comments with more grace — try cracking that mega-watt smile — than anyone dishing them out.

She’s a businesswoman and boss

Even while her career in porn was active, Sunny wasn’t just another hot body. She taught herself how to market and completely own her image. In an interview with GQ, she said, “I figured out porn quickly. I started my own website. I taught myself HTML, Photoshop and editing videos. Everything that goes into marketing a website — social media, what search engine optimization is, how to get traffic. People are wondering how there are so many pages on Sunny Leone out there. That’s because I’ve been self-populating them since 2001.”

She’s breaking conventions

She’s the first porn star to enter mainstream Bollywood cinema. While people have tried to discredit her, she’s persevered and proved that she deserves to be in the spotlight just as anyone else.

If you’re still shocked, maybe you just need to get to know her a little better. No, we’re not suggesting you pay a visit to PornHub. But check out what makes her such a stellar woman.

1/4

She broke every convention and stereotype

Now a household name, Sunny Leone was born Karanjit Kaur Vohra to a sikh family. She was studying pediatric nursing at 19 when she was first introduced to the adult entertainment industry. She shot for Penthouse in 2001, which catapulted her into porn videos. Despite all the trolls and haters, you can’t deny Sunny is the first pornstar to have actually assimilated herself into mainstream Bollywood successfully.

No shooting adult stuff in front of kids

During the shooting of the song Pink Lips from the movie Hate Story 2, there were a few kids on set while the shoot was in progress. Sunny put her foot down, refusing to shoot intimate scenes in front of children.

She knows how to use her notoriety for a good cause

Sunny Leone featured in an anti-tobacco PSA along with the ‘sanskaari’ Alok Nath and Deepak Dobriyal. The storyline revolved around a man whose dying wish was to have one wild night with Sunny, which of course, goes unfulfilled.

She's a digital entreprenuer

In an interview with GQ, Sunny revealed that she built and managed her own website by teaching herself HTML and Photoshop. Need help understanding social media marketing and search engine optimisation? Just ask Sunny.